Holding

Rule 4 precludes any fresh alteration of date of birth after a prior rejection, and Rule 5 is not repugnant to the 1886 Act, so the Tribunal's order is set aside.

Summary

M. Hayagrevsarma, a government employee, had his date of birth recorded in his service book on the basis of his S.S.L.C. certificate and applied for alteration in 1962, which was rejected in 1968. After the Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Recording and alteration of date of birth) Rules, 1984 came into force, he filed a fresh application in 1984, which was again rejected on the ground of limitation. He challenged the rejection and the constitutional validity of Rules 4 and 5 before the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, which held that Rule 5 was repugnant to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886 and ordered the state to consider his application based on birth register extracts. The Supreme Court held that Rule 4 bars any fresh alteration where a prior application had been finally decided before the Rules’ commencement, and that Rule 5 does not conflict with Section 9 of the 1886 Act as the two operate in different domains. Consequently, the Tribunal’s order was set aside and the appeal was allowed.

Issues considered

Whether Rule 4 of the 1984 Rules bars a fresh application for alteration of date of birth after a prior application had been rejected before the Rules came into force.
Whether Rule 5 of the 1984 Rules is repugnant to Section 9 of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886.
Whether the State has exclusive legislative competence to enact such rules despite incidental overlap with a Union law.

Legislation cited

Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886s. 9

Subjects

date of birth alterationservice recordpublic employment rulesrepugnancyconstitutional validitystate legislationcentral lawArticle 309Article 254Rule 4Rule 5Administrative TribunalSupreme Court

Judgment

GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND ANR.
A
v.
M.HAYAGREEVSARMA

APRIL 6, 1990

B [K.N. SINGH AND N.M. KASLIWAL, JJ.]

Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Recording and alteration
of date of birth) Rules, 1984: Rules 4 and 5-0bject and validity of.
.)

Service Law-Employee-Service Record-Date of Birth recor- --.,,,,
ded on the basis of S.S.L.C. Certificate-Application for alteration of
c date of birth-Rejection of-Fresh consideration of alteration of date of w
birth after the enforcement of 1984 Rules-Permissibility of,
.
!
Constitution of India, 1950: Article 254--Repugnancy-Vllth
Schedule-List JI-State Law, Andhra Pradesh Public Employment _ ti
D (Recording and alteration of date of birth) Rules 1984, Rule 5~~
Incidental trenching upon Union Law referable to List 1, Births, Deatfu .-
and Marriages Registration Act, 1886, Section 9-Effect of-Held Rule
5 and Section 9 operate in different areas-No repugnancy.

The respondent joined service in the Department of Examiner of
E Accounts, Local Fund and in the service book bis date of birth was
recorded on the basis of S.S.L.C. Certificate. He made an application
for alteration of his date of birth but the Head of Department rejected __ _.,/
his prayer by an order dated 5.1.1968. After the coming into force of
the Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Recording and alteration of
date of birth) Rules, . 1984, he made another application for alteration
F of his date of birth which was also rejected by the Head of Department
on the ground of limitation. 1
The respondent filed a petition before the Andhra Pradesh
Administrative Tribunal challenging the order rejecting his application J.:.
and also the Constitutional validity of Rules 4 and 5 of the 1984 Rules.
G
The tribunal by its order dated 18th October, 1985 directed the
appellants to consider the respondent's application for the alteration of
his date of birth on the basis of the extracts of the entry in the births and
deaths register, holding that the respondent's application was wrongly
rejected by the Head of Department on the ground of limitation; and (ii)
1-f Rnle 5 of the 1984 Rules was void as it was repugnant to Section 9 of the

366
GOVT. OF A.P. v. M.H. SARMA 367

Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886.
A
In the appeal it was contended on behalf of the. State that (i) since
the respondent's application for alteration of his date of birth had been
rejected in 1968 he was not entitled to maintain any fresh application;
and (ii) there was no repugnancy between Rule 5 of 1984 Rules and
section 9 of the 1886 Act. B

Allowing the appeal and setting aside the order of the Tribunal,
/ the Court,

HELD: I. Rule 4 of the Andhra Pradesh Public Employment
(Recording and alteration of date of birth) Rules, 1984 lays down a
salutory principle prohibiting re-opening of the question of correction c
of date of birth which may have become final prior to the enforcement
of 1984 Rules. Since the question of alteration of the respondent's dale
of birth had been made on the basis of the School Certificate and his
application for alteration had already been rejected in 1968, he was not
entitled to claim alteration of his date of birth after the enforcement of o
1984 Rules. It was not open to the respondent to claim alteration of his
date of birth, even on the basis of extracts of the entry contained in
births and deaths register maintained under the Births, Deaths and
Marriages Registration Act, 1886 as the question of correction of his
date of birth had already been finally decided in 1968. [372C-D]
~ E
2. Rule 5 lays down that where application of a Government emp-
loyee for alteration of his date of birth was pending on the date of the
commencement of the 1984 Rules the same will be dealt with on the
basis of date of birth recorded in the School and College records at the
time of the entry of the employ~e in service. Thus if on the date of entry
in service the date of birth of an employee was recorded in his service F
book on the basis of his age as recorded in the School and College
Certificate, in that event the date sii recorded shall be treated to be
correct date of birth. However, if the date of birth recorded in the
service book at the time of entry of the employee is not based on School
or College records, Rule 5 does not operate as a bar against considera-
tion of other relevant materials in determining the date of birth of the :.;
employee. [372F-G]

In the instant case the respondent's date of birth had been
recorded in his service book on the basis of his S.S.L.C. Certificate, at
the time of his entry into service therefore, that entry had become final
and he was not entitled to reopen the correctness of that entry on the 1-1
•
'
368 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 2 S.C.R.

A
basis of extract of birth register. Moreover, since the respondent's
application for alteration of his date of birth had already been decided
prior to enforcement of Rnle 5 he was not entitled to maintain applica-
tion for any alteration of his date of birth. In either case the respondent
was not entitled to claim alteration of his date of birth, his application
was rightly rejected although on different grounds. [372H; 373A-B]
B
3. The question of repugnancy cannot arise if the State makes law
in exercise of its legislative powers in respect of an entry specified in List
II of Vllth Schedule, even though it may incidentally trench upon a law
made by the Union in respect of a matter referable to an entry in Unioq
List of the Vllth Schedule. [373E]
c 3.1 The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886 is a
central law which is referable to Union List. Section 9 of the Act merely
lays down that copies of entries of the registers relating to births and
deaths maintained under the Act will be admissible in evidence for the
purpose of proving the births and deaths. It merely relates to admissi-
D bility of documents, it does not seek to regulate co11ditions of service of a
State employee. Rule 5 and Section 9 of the Act operate in different
areas and there is no question of conflict in the two provisions. There is,
therefore, no question of repugnancy between Rule 5 and Section 9. The
Tribllllal's view that Rule 5 was repugnant to Section 9 of Births, Deaths
and Marriages Registration Act, 1886 is wholly misconceived and its
E order dated October 18, 1985 is not sustainable in law. [3731>-E; GI ,,,/

Lingerker Vaidyanath v. Government of Andhra Pradesh and
Anr., Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal's Judgment dated
2.9.1987, approved.

F CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 915
of 1987.
..\.:
From the Judgment and Order dated 18.10.1985 of the Andhra
Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad in R.P. No. 786 of 1984.

G . A.S. Nambiar and T. V .S.N. Chari with him for the Appellants.

Respondent In-person.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

H SINGH, J. This appeal is directed against the judgment and
GOVT. OF A.P. v. M.H. SARMA [SINGH, J.J 369

order of the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad
A
dated October 18, 1985 declaring Rule 5 of the Andhra Pradesh
Public Employment (Recording and alteration of date of birth) Rules
1984 (hereinafter referred to as·' 1984 Rules') void and directing the
appellants to consider the respondent's application for alteration of his
date of birth in the service records in accordance with the extracts from
birth register maintained under the Births, Deaths and Marriages B
Registration Act, 1886.

The respondent was appointed. as Audit Clerk in the Department
of Examiner of Accounts, Local Fund Accounts, through a competi-
tive examination held in the year 1956. After his selection and appoint-
ment he commenced his training with effect from 12.11.1956. On com-
pletion of his training he was posted as Audit Clerk on 26. 1.1957. c
Subsequently, he was promoted to the post of District Inspector of
Local fund Accounts. At the time of his joining service 9.3.1932 was
- ">.._ -
recorded as his date of birth in the service book on the basis of
S.S.L.C. Certiticate. He made an application on 5.1.1962 for altera-
tion of his date of birth as entered in his service book, on the ground D
that his date of birth as recorded in his service book was apparently
wrong and incorrect in view of his el.der brothers' date of birth, who
was also in Government service, recorded as 2.9.1931. The respondent
urged that the entry with regard to his date of birth in the service book
should be altered and the date 9.3.1932 should be substituted by
27. 8. 1933 which according to him was the correct date of his birth. The E
authorities advised the respondent to submit a revised application in
terms of the instructions contained in the Government Order No. 1263
dated 6.5.1961. The respondent thereupon submitted a revised appli-
cation on 24.9.1964 for alteration of his date of birth, that application
was forwarded to the Head Master of the School in which the respon-
dent had last studied for verification. After obtaining the views of all F
·authorities including the Head Master of the School, the respondent's
case was placed before the Director of Treasuries and Accounts, the
Head of Department for necessary orders. The Director of Treasuries
and Accounts after considering all relevant documents relied upon by
the respondent, and also the comments of officers, rejected the
respondent'• prayer for alteration of his date of birth by his Order No. G
69918/1209/Admn/66-7 dated 5.1.1%8 on the ground that the correct-
ness of respondent's elder brother's date of birth was not established.
The respondent did not take any further action in the matter for altera-
tion of his date of birth between 1968 to 1983.

On 10.4.1983 the Governor of Andhra Pradesh promulgated H
370 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 2 S.C.R.

Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Regulation of Conditions of
A Service) Ordinance No. 5 of 1983 providing for declaration and altera-
tion of date of birth of State Government employees. The Ordinance ':r-
laid down that every Government employee should make a declaration
regarding his date of birth within one month of joining service and on
the receipt of such declaration the appropriate authority was required
B to make necessary enquiries determining the date of birth of the
employee.It further provided that if no such declaration was made by
the employee the Head of the Office, should determine the date of
birth of the employee in accordance with the records as m•y be avail-
able to him after giving opportunity to the emplyee within six months "
'y
from the date on which the employee joins service. The Ordinance
further provided that the provisions contained therein will not apply to
c those who failed to apply for the alteration of date of birth in accor-
~

dance with law applicable to them prior to the commencement of the
Ordinance or if such an application had been made and rejected. Thus
the Ordinance clearly laid down that the opportunity for correction of
./-
date of birth as provided by the Ordinance shall not enure to the
D benefit of the employees whose entry -relating to date of birth may
have become final and binding under the law in force prior to the
commencement of the Ordinance. The Ordinance was replaced by
Andhra. Pradesh Public Employment (Recording and alteration of
date of birth) Rules 1984 framed under the Proviso to Art. 309 of the
Constitution. Thereupon the respondent made yet another attempt by
E making application on 27 .1.1984 for the alteration of his date of birth, _,/
placing reliance on the extracts of entry in the register of births and
deaths. The Director of Local.Fund Audit rejected his application by
his order dated 28.3.1984 on the ground that the application had been
made beyond the period prescribed for the purpose. The respondent

F
filed .; petition before the Andhra Pradesh Tribunal challenging the
rejection of his application and also the constitutional validity of Rules
4 and 5 of the 1984 Rules.
'
J.:
The Tribunal held that the respondent's application for altera-
tion of his date of birth was wrongly rejected by the Director of Local
Fund Audit on the ground of limitation. The Tribunal held that the
G. Head of Department should have forwarded the respondent's applica-
tion to the State Government for passing appropriate order as he had
no authority to reject the same. The Tribunal further held that Rule 5
of the 1984 Rules was void as it was repugnant to Section 9 of the
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886. On these find-
ings the Tribunal directed the appellants to consider the respondent's
""
H application again for the altei;ation of his date of birth 0 n the basis of
GOVT. OF A.P. v. M.H. SARMA [SINGH, J.l 371

the extracts of the entry in the births and deaths register. Aggrieved
the appellants have preferred this appeal by special leave. A

Learned counsel for the appellants urged that since the respon-
dent's application for making alteration of his date of birth as recorded
in service book had been rejected in 1968, he was not entitled to
maintain any fresh application for the alteration of his date of birth. B
He further submitted that there was no question of repugnancy bet-
ween Rule 5 and Section 9 of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Regist-
ration Act, 1886 and the Tribunal committed error.in striking down the
aforesaid Rule 5. The respondent appeared in person before this
Court, he submitted his written submissions. According to the respon-
dent the Director of Local Fund Audit had no authority in law to reject
his application for the alteration of his date of birth as the State c
Government was the competent authority under the rules to deal with
the matter. Even after enforcement of the 1984 Rules the respondent's·
application for alteration of his date of birth could validly be con-
sidered only by the State Government.

The question which arises for consideration is whether the altera-
tion of respondent's date of birth was permissible after the enforce-
ment of the 1984 Rules. The 1984 Rules apply to all persons appointed
to Public Services and posts in connection with the affairs of the State.
These Rules prescribe conditions of service of State employees, having
statutory force. being framed under the legislative power conferred on E
the Governor under the Proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution.
Rules 4 and 5 are as under:

"4. No Government employee, in service before the com-
mencement of these rules-
F
(a) whose date of birth has been recorded in the service
register in accordance with the mies applicable to him; or

(b) whose entry relating to date of birth became final and
binding under the rules in force prior to the commence-
ment of these rules. G

shall be entitled to claim alteration of his date of birth.

5. The case in which Government employees have alrea<ly
applied for alteration of their date of birth and which are
pending on the date of commencement of these rules. shall H
372 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 2 S.C.R.

be dealt with on the basis of recorded age in school and
A
college records at the time of entry into service."

The object underlying Rule 4 is to avoid repeated applications by
a Government employee for the correction of his date of birth and with
that end in view it provides that a Government servant whose date of
B birth may have been recorded in the service register in accordance
with the rules applicable to him and if that entry had become final
under the rules prior to the commencement of 1984 Rules, he will not
be entitled for alteration of his date of birth. Rule 4 laid down a
salutory principle to prohibit reopening of the question of correction
of date of birth which may have become final prior to the enforcement
of 1984 Rules. Since the question of alteration of the respondent's date
c of birth had been made on the basis of the School Certificate and his
application for alteration had already been rejected in 1968, he was
not entitled to claim alteration of his date of birth after the enforce-
ment of 1984 Rules. It was not open to the respondent to claim altera-
tion of his date of birth, even on the basis of extracts of the entry
D contained in births and deaths register maintained under the Births,
Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886 as the question of cor-
rection of his date of birth had already been finally decided in 1968.

As regards validity of Rule 5 is concerned, the view taken by the
Tribunal is wholely misconceived. Rule 5 lays down that where appli-
E cation of a Government employee for alteration of his date of birth
was pending on the date of the commencement of 1984 Rules the same will
be dealt with on the basis of date of birth recorded in the School and
College records at the time of the entry of the employee into service.
In substance Rule 5 lays down that the pending applications of the
employees for alteration of theiI date of birth shall be decided on the
F basis of the age as recorded in the School and College records. Thus if
on the date of entry into service the date of birth of an employee was
recorded in his service book on the basis of his age as recorded in the
School and College Certificate in that event the date so recorded shall
be treated to be correct date of birth. However, if the date of birth
recorded in the service book at the time of the entry of an employee is
G not based on School or College records the Rule 5 does not operate as
a bar to consideration of other relevant materials in determining the
date of birth of the employee. In the instant case as already noted the
respondent's date of birth had been recorded in his service book on the
basis of his S.S.L.C. Certificate, at the time of his entry into service,
therefore, that entry had become final and he was not entitled to
H reopen the correctness of that entry on the basis of extract of birth
GOVT. OF A.P. v. M.H. SARMA [SINGH, J.J 373

register. Moreover, since the respondent's application for alteration of A
his date of birth had already been decided prior to enforcement of
'
--y Rule 5 he was not entitled to maintain application for any alteration of
his date of birth. In either case respondent was not entitled to claim
alteration of his date of birth, his application was rightly rejected
although on different grounds.
B
The Tribunal's view that Rule 5 was repugnant to Section 9 of
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886 is wholely miscon-
ceived. Under Article 245 read with Entry 41, List II of Vllth
/ Schedule, which relates to State Public Services, the State has exclu-
• sive power to legislate in respect of State Public Services. Proviso to
Article 309 also confers exclusive power on the Governor and the State c
Legislature to frame rules laying down the terms and conditions of the
State employees, such rules may regulate the entry of date of birth of
an employee its alteration, correction and all other allied matters. The
- ">-- Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886 is a central law
which is referable to Union List. Section 9 of the Act merely lays down
that copies of entries. of the registers relating to births and deaths D
maintained under the Act shall be admissible in evidence for the
purpose of proving the births and deaths. It merely relates to admissi-
bility of documents, it does not seek to regµlate conditions of service
of a State employee. There is, therefore, no question of repugnancy
between Rule 5 and Section 9. It is well settled that question of
' ,.___ repugnancy can not arise if the State makes law in exercise of its E
legislative powers in respect of an entry specified in List II of Vllth
Schedule, even though it may incidentally trench upon a law made by
the Union in respect of a matter referable to an entry in Union List of
the Vllth Schdule. Rule 5 and Section 9 of the Act operate in different
• areas and there is no question of conflict in the two provisions. We are
informed that a Full Bench of the Andhra Pradesh Administrative F
Tribunal has taken similar view in Lingerker Vaidyanath v. Govern-
)I, ment of Andhra Pradesh and Anr., (Andhra Pradesh Administrative
Tribunal's Judgment dated 2.9.1987) in holding that Rule 5 is neither
repugnant to Section 9 of the aforesaid Act nor void. In this view the
Tribunal's order dated October 18, 1985 is not sustainable in law.
G
In the result we allow the appeal and set aside the order of the
Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal. There will be no order as to
costs.

"' T.N.A. Appeal allowed.
H